Commitment
by Mindy35
Summary: CASKETT. Beckett doesn't want Castle dating other women. Castle doesn't want Beckett dating other men.


Title: Commitment

Author: mindy35

Rating: K+, nothing real adult

Disclaimer: Not mine, no money made.

Spoilers: Nope.

Pairing: Castle/Beckett, Castle/Others, mini Beckett/Other

Summary: Beckett doesn't want Castle seeing other women. Castle doesn't want Beckett seeing other men.

A/N: Inspired by Beckett's reactions to other women showing interest in her man in season 4. And also by the Andrew W. Marlowe quote about Castle and Beckett already being in a relationship of sorts. Thought I'd better get this one out there before everything changes….

-x-x-x-

She waits til they're in the car to let it out. The words that have been building up inside her chest since they left the blonde woman's building. Words that normally she would repress. Words she has routinely repressed for years. Words she can no longer stop falling from her lips, despite all that she knows they will reveal. She takes a half-breath, surprising herself with how quickly and abruptly her one dominant thought translates itself into verbal truth:

"I don't want you to see her."

Castle turns to her, eyes wide and blinking. "See who?"

Beckett ignores his quizzical expression, keeping her eyes focused on the road and her voice as even as possible. "That woman, the one we questioned."

"Anthea?"

She grinds her teeth, further incensed by his instant recall of the irritatingly pert blonde's name. "When I took that call, she gave you her number, didn't she?"

He pulls a card from his breast pocket and shows it to her. "Yeah."

"Well…" she glances at the card, eyes flicking up to his before she turns away again, "I don't want you to see her."

"Beeeecaaause she's a suspect in a murder investigation?" he guesses, slowly, confusedly.

"She's not a suspect. Her alibi is good."

"But she's a person of interest in an ongoing case?"

She gives a tight shake of her head. "She's not involved, she's peripheral to the case."

He hesitates briefly. "So then, you don't want me to see her—"

"For completely personal reasons."

"Oh."

"And _I know_," she lifts a hand from the steering wheel, adding in an uncensored rush, "I have no right to feel that way, let alone say so. I know you didn't ask for my opinion but I just wanted you to know that if you pursue it, which is absolutely your choice, I…" she pauses for an overly long time, eyes darting about at the messy rows of traffic, "I wouldn't be happy about it."

Castle considers this a moment. Then nods. "Okay. Then I won't call her."

She can't help the surprise in her voice. Or the relief. "Really?"

"Really." He rips the card to pieces, throws them in the ashtray. "I won't even give it another thought."

She takes a corner just as the light is turning red then casts him an incredulous look. "That's it? You're just going to let it go? You're not going to tease me endlessly or badger me for reasons why?"

Castle shrugs. "I can be mature."

"You _can_?"

"Cheap shot."

Her hand lifts again. "Withdrawn."

"I am going to ask for one favor in return though," he says, straightening in his seat.

Beckett pulls up behind a cluster of congested cabs, her hands plonking to her lap. "Oh, yeah. And what's that?"

"Always so suspicious," he tuts, wagging his head at her.

She arches a brow. "Spill it, Castle."

He shifts to face her, all of a sudden deadly serious. "Don't go out with coffee guy."

Her eyes cut to one side. "Coffee guy? What coffee guy?"

"The guy with the teeth," he scowls, stabbing a finger at his own bared teeth. "At that place you like by the park. He always flirts with you and _I don't like it_."

Her face splits into a dubious smile. "Castle, he's just being nice, he's just doing his job."

"Uh-uh. He wants you," he states, low, resolute and deeply disgruntled. "He wants you _bad_."

She rolls her eyes. "You're being paranoid. You know that, right?"

"No. I'm not," he insists, the irate finger now gesturing at her face. "I've seen the way he looks at you. Right in front of me too, the little weasel has no sense of shame. And haven't you noticed how he always makes your coffee extra sweet?"

"He does not!" A loud honk interrupts her rebuttal and she returns her attention to the road, manouevring the car into a new lane before taking off towards the 12th. "And anyway, Castle, if I had any intention of dating, which I don't, I wouldn't choose some slip of a guy ten years younger than me who obviously has way too much charm for his own good."

"Not to mention too many teeth."

"He is…very smiley."

Castle is quiet a moment. He clears his throat. "So you don't then?"

She glances over at him. "Don't what?"

"Intend to date."

She shrugs a shoulder, peers up at the rear-view mirror. "Not right now. I have other things going on."

"Then we're on the same page," he replies lightly, before leaning a little closer to confess, "I had no real intention of calling…"

"Anthea."

"Was that her name?"

Beckett resists the urge to look at him, her fingers tensing and untensing on the wheel. "So you're not dating either? Not anyone? Not even twenty-something groupies who swoon when you sign their double-D sized chests?"

He waggles his brows at her. "Not even if the double-Ds are real."

"Please don't insult my intelligence by trying to tell me that that gets old," she says, her tone uncompromisingly dry.

Castle just watches the city whiz by his window. "Not old so much as… uninspiring."

"Which is worse for you."

"Much worse." He draws in a breath, adding with a little more momentum, "And anyway, right now, I'm happy just concentrating on work."

"Yours or mine?"

"Both. And on being with Alexis while she's still round, supporting her through to the next stage of her life." He pauses, face and voice both turning sardonic as he tells her, "Between that and devising elaborate strategies to once and for all get my mother _out _of my apartment, my schedule is pretty jam-packed."

Beckett nods a few times, hesitates before asking him, "Is that really enough for you, Castle? Aren't you used to a more…_varied_ lifestyle, if you know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean," he replies with an amused little lilt, "and I appreciate the tactful yet indecent inference."

"Thought you might."

"And look – I know how I come across, okay? And I love women, I admit that and I don't apologize for it. I love the way they look and smell and walk. Each has her own magic, none more so than…" He waves a hand in her direction, an impish little twinkle in his eye.

She levels a look at him, one that is both withering and affectionate. "…_But_?"

"_But_ having said that," he continues, his gaze leaving her and drifting outside again, "I am equally happy living a quiet life with my family and my writing and—"

"The occasional gruesome murder."

"Exactly. For your future reference though…"

She waits for him to finish but when he says no more, Beckett glances across to see his lips pressed together and his expression lingering in uncertainty. "What? What were you about to say?"

"Since you ask and…since we're sharing—" he peers at her from beneath his brows while her gaze remains on the road ahead, "I will have you know that I am completely capable of committing to one woman. Provided it's the right woman. The years I was married – well, a select few of them anyway and not to the right women as it turned out…– but even so, those years were some of my most contented. To date, that is."

"Content."

"Yes."

"But not happy?"

"Well…" Castle shrugs, his throat emitting a strangled, wordless sound.

"You don't have to answer that," she jumps in quickly.

"Look – Gina and I definitely had our issues," he goes on, voice subdued, "But fidelity was never one of them. I mean, not to blow my own horn—"

She waves a hand. "Oh, go ahead, blow it, I'm used to it."

"But even during our divorce, she herself said that she couldn't have asked for a more faithful guy."

"Really."

"You can call and ask her if you want. She's used to giving glowing testimonials on the subject of Richard Castle."

Her cheeks flush an embarrassed red. "No, thanks, no need."

Castle doesn't notice, he just presses on with: "And as for Meredith, she stepped out on me, not the other way round."

She forgets her discomfiture, almost forgets the heavy traffic surrounding them, casting him a stunned, prolonged look. "Meredith cheated on you?"

"I thought you knew that," he murmurs, leaning back in his seat with a huff. "I thought _everyone_ knew that. Every time one of our names is mentioned in print, they inevitably rehash the whole sordid tale even though it was half a lifetime ago. Some of what they print is actually factual. Although, they generally cast her as the irresistible seductress while I'm the cuckolded husband and things are never that clear-cut in real life. The spouse, as they say, always knows."

Beckett frowns, continuing to guide the car through the New York chaos but with little awareness of doing so. "Castle, I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's a long time ago now. I'm just saying…when I am committed—" he cuts a hand through the air in a decisive gesture, "I am committed. When I am in something, I am in it. You know?"

"Must be awful…" she muses after a moment, head shaking and voice low. "I've never cheated—"

"Never?" he interrupts, hanging on her answer.

She sends him a wide-eyed look as she navigates the last corner before the precinct. "God, no, never. Or been cheated on. As far as I'm aware."

"Well, let's face it," he says, the smile returning to his tone, "any guy who stepped out on you would have to be certifiable."

"And no one could accuse you of that," she murmurs, slotting the car into a space outside the 12th. "Could they, Castle?"

"Hey, I might be crazy, but I'm not that crazy." He releases his seatbelt and turns to her, leaning close enough that his aftershave reaches her nostrils. "And we are now speaking hypothetically of course, but if I was lucky enough to have someone like you…"

"Ye-ah…?" she prompts when his voice trails off. She pulls the keys from the ignition and faces him, a small smile on her lips. "Don't leave me hangin', Castle."

He folds his arms awkwardly on the narrow console, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Let's just say that I subscribe to the Paul Newman school of thought on fidelity."

"Which is?" she asks, eyes skating over his face.

He grins broadly before answering. "Why go out for hamburger when you can have steak at home?"

"Well—" she cocks her head and cracks the car door, commenting before exiting, "leaving aside the analogy of women as meat, that's actually pretty sweet."

Clambering out of the car, Castle meets her on the pavement and catches her arm to halt her progress. "Just to be clear, in that metaphor, hypothetical though it may be, _you_…are totally the steak."

She pats his bicep and nods. "As are you, Castle, as are you."

"A manly steak," he clarifies as he trails her across the pavement.

"A very manly, very juicy, very rare hunk of steak," she agrees, heels clicking sharply against the concrete.

He pulls a face behind her back. "See, now that was too much information, you took the metaphor too far there."

"I know." She screws up her nose, her step slowing. "I even grossed myself out a bit."

"You gotta know when to quit," Castle schools her smugly, "when to let the metaphor just speak for itself."

Beckett rolls her eyes, shooting a look over her shoulder at him. "Oh, like you're such an expert on restraint."

He smirks back, wiggles a finger between them. "Let's not forget who is the literary half of this partnership."

She rounds on him, stopping so suddenly that he barely prevents himself from colliding with her. "And let's not forget who has the gun. And aim her T.O. once called 'abnormally accurate'."

"Not to blow your own horn," he mutters under his breath.

Her eyes narrow. "Castle."

He holds both hands up in surrender. "Withdrawn."

"That's more like it," she humphs, eying him sternly for an extra moment. "Now…let's go solve a murder."

He nods once. "I'm with you."

Beckett tilts her head, unable to stop a sly smile from spreading across her face.

"Not in…— I mean in the partnershippy sense," he fumbles, waving a hand towards the precinct entry. "I'm _agreeing_ with you, I...just. Come. Let's…go."

"Yes," she says, holding his gaze as she turns on her heel. "Let's."

She continues on her path towards the precinct's front entrance, Castle by her side now instead of one step behind, his elbow brushing hers as their strides synchronize. She can sense his mind ticking over and is just waiting for the words to emerge. Which they do, just as they are about to enter. He lunges for the door, his smirk swelling to an insufferable level as he holds it open for her.

"So. '_Juicy_', huh? That's the first word that came to mind for you? And 'hunk'? – don't think for a second that I missed you slipping that one in there."

"Castle—"

"I know, I know," he interjects before she can deliver her inevitable retort. "Zip it. Right?"

She smiles, letting her body graze his as she slips past him. "You took the words right outta my mouth."

Castle sinks his teeth into his clenched fist in order to curb his comeback. Then he follows her inside, the heavy door banging shut behind them.

_END._


End file.
